Guest Post by John W. Whitehead
America is at a crossroads.
History may show that from this point forward, we will have left behind any semblance of constitutional government and entered into a militaristic state where all citizens are suspects and security trumps freedom.
As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, we have moved beyond the era of representative government and entered a new age—the age of authoritarianism. Even with its constantly shifting terrain, this topsy-turvy travesty of law and government has become America’s new normal.
Let me take you on a brief guided tour, but prepare yourself. The landscape is particularly disheartening to anyone who remembers what America used to be.
The Executive Branch: President Obama, like many of his predecessors, has routinely disregarded the Constitution when it has suited his purposes, operating largely above the law and behind a veil of secrecy, executive orders and specious legal justifications. Rest assured that no matter who wins this next presidential election, very little will change. The policies of the American police state will continue.
The Legislative Branch: Congress may well be the most self-serving, semi-corrupt institution in America. Abuses of office run the gamut from elected representatives neglecting their constituencies to engaging in self-serving practices, including the misuse of eminent domain, earmarking hundreds of millions of dollars in federal contracting in return for personal gain and campaign contributions, having inappropriate ties to lobbyist groups and incorrectly or incompletely disclosing financial information.
The Judicial Branch: The Supreme Court was intended to be an institution established to intervene and protect the people against the government and its agents when they overstep their bounds. Yet through their deference to police power, preference for security over freedom, and evisceration of our most basic rights for the sake of order and expediency, the justices of the United States Supreme Court have become the guardians of the American police state in which we now live.
Shadow Government: America’s next president will inherit more than a bitterly divided nation teetering on the brink of financial catastrophe when he or she assumes office. He or she will also inherit a shadow government, one that is fully operational and staffed by unelected officials who are, in essence, running the country. Referred to as the Deep State, this shadow government is comprised of unelected government bureaucrats, corporations, contractors, paper-pushers, and button-pushers who are actually calling the shots behind the scenes right now.
Law Enforcement: By and large the term “law enforcement” encompasses all agents within a militarized police state, including the military, local police, and the various agencies such as the Secret Service, FBI, CIA, NSA, etc. Having been given the green light to probe, poke, pinch, taser, search, seize, strip and generally manhandle anyone they see fit in almost any circumstance, all with the general blessing of the courts, America’s law enforcement officials, no longer mere servants of the people entrusted with keeping the peace but now extensions of the military, are part of an elite ruling class dependent on keeping the masses corralled, under control, and treated like suspects and enemies rather than citizens.
A Suspect Surveillance Society: Every dystopian sci-fi film we’ve ever seen is suddenly converging into this present moment in a dangerous trifecta between science, technology and a government that wants to be all-seeing, all-knowing and all-powerful. Consequently, in the face of DNA evidence that places us at the scene of a crime, behavior sensing technology that interprets our body temperature and facial tics as suspicious, and government surveillance devices that cross-check our biometrics, license plates and DNA against a growing database of unsolved crimes and potential criminals, we are no longer “innocent until proven guilty.”
Military Empire: America’s endless global wars and burgeoning military empire—funded by taxpayer dollars—have depleted our resources, over-extended our military and increased our similarities to the Roman Empire and its eventual demise. The U.S. now operates approximately 800 military bases in foreign countries around the globe at an annual cost of at least $156 billion. The consequences of financing a global military presence are dire. In fact, David Walker, former comptroller general of the U.S., believes there are “striking similarities” between America’s current situation and the factors that contributed to the fall of Rome, including “declining moral values and political civility at home, an over-confident and over-extended military in foreign lands and fiscal irresponsibility by the central government.”
I haven’t even touched on the corporate state, the military industrial complex, SWAT team raids, invasive surveillance technology, zero tolerance policies in the schools, overcriminalization, or privatized prisons, to name just a few, but what I have touched on should be enough to show that the landscape of our freedoms has already changed dramatically from what it once was and will no doubt continue to deteriorate unless Americans can find a way to wrest back control of their government and reclaim their freedoms.
That brings me to the final and most important factor in bringing about America’s shift into authoritarianism: “we the people.” We are the government. Thus, if the government has become a tyrannical agency, it is because we have allowed it to happen, either through our inaction or our blind trust.
Essentially, there are four camps of thought among the citizenry when it comes to holding the government accountable. Which camp you fall into says a lot about your view of government—or, at least, your view of whichever administration happens to be in power at the time.
In the first camp are those who trust the government to do the right thing, despite the government’s repeated failures in this department. In the second camp are those who not only don’t trust the government but think the government is out to get them. In the third camp are those who see government neither as an angel nor a devil, but merely as an entity that needs to be controlled, or as Thomas Jefferson phrased it, bound “down from mischief with the chains of the Constitution.”
Then there’s the fourth camp, comprised of individuals who pay little to no attention to the workings of government, so much so that they barely vote, let alone know who’s in office. Easily entertained, easily distracted, easily led, these are the ones who make the government’s job far easier than it should be.
It is easy to be diverted, distracted and amused by the antics of the presidential candidates, the pomp and circumstance of awards shows, athletic events, and entertainment news, and the feel-good evangelism that passes for religion today. What is far more difficult to face up to is the reality of life in America, where unemployment, poverty, inequality, injustice and violence by government agents are increasingly norms.
The powers-that-be want us to remain divided, alienated from each other based on our politics, our bank accounts, our religion, our race and our value systems. Yet as George Orwell observed, “The real division is not between conservatives and revolutionaries but between authoritarians and libertarians.”
The only distinction that matters anymore is where you stand in the American police state. In other words, you’re either part of the problem or part of the solution.
Crossroads hell.That was passed long ago.We’re now on a one way street , not specifically signed, but can be though the exit-less throughway to Global Corporatism.
As Joey points to in the comment section of Kommie Kike Kunstler’s post:
https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2016/02/22/trump-will-the-powers-that-be-destroy-him/
If you don’t understand Globalism, look at operations designed to look like humanitarian heraldry while decimating economies, cultures, traditions, health; while inducing broad chaos behind which a “new order” can emerge to “solve the unrest.”
Look, for example, at the fraudulent climate agenda (lowered energy production for the whole planet); the “migration wave” (a cumulative chaos-inducer); the destruction of education systems (addled minds incapable of following a line of thought); medical care (kills 2.25 million people each decade in the US alone); “free trade” (allows mega-corporate plunderers to roam the world and wreak havoc on local producers and national economies).
These and other operations are woven together to soften up the world population and make control far easier to implement, from above.
Hmmm
It is not by coincidence that when looked at in total, this “transformation” has been hugely beneficial in so many ways, and on so many different levels to the State of israel. At ever turn, this “transformation” has been instituted and guided by zionists. In retrospect it is clear that the problems can be traced back to over representation. At less than 3% of the population, Jews are 50% of the Supreme Court, and both Chair and Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve. At any given time, they are about half the “Czars” appointed by the President. From Treasury and the Department of State, to DHS Jews and zionist sypathizers in key leadership positions are grossly over represented. Jews were and are at the forefront of the post war mass immigration, the evisceration of the 1st amendment to shut down criticism of Israel and the growing power of the Jewish lobby. Attempts to erode the 2nd amendment in order to prevent the citizenry from resisting the rising police state. The complete eradication of the 4th amendment. Ever changing tax laws which aid corporations sympathetic to Israel. The list goes on and on. All of which continue to aid in the zionist take over of America.
And unless you have been living under a rock the last 9 months you have witnessed a well organized conspiracy by the US media to put their man Sanders in the White House. A man that is without question a zionist first last and always. From day one of the campaign, the media hounded, harassed and attacked every single candidate of note except Bernie Sanders. Sanders was carefully shielded from inquiry, let alone attacks. And even at this late date, he is protected by the media against any detailed probing of his stand on the military, foreign policy in general and Israel in particular. This, despite the fact that these are some of the primary responsibilities of the President.
It bears noting however, other than Ron Paul, who was destroyed by the media no major candidate for President in the last 2 decades has stood up against Israel, let alone the Jewish lobby.
That saying often accredited to Voltaire that states that states essentially that to determine is is truly in power one must only see who cannot be publicly criticized without severe negative consequences. And without question the answer to that question in America is Jews and Israel. This is a fact. It is not a criticism of the Jewish Faith. Because ultimately this is a political and social issue, not one of religion.
A time comes when you do better by preparing for it than by trying to talk about it.
That time is very, very near if not already here.
My dad spent 21 years in the military; I spent 23 years doing the same. I pray every day my two children reject military service to this country. I will forfeit my retirement before I put my uniform back on for a country capable of not only electing, but re-elect Prince Stompy Foot. I await this country’s collapse in the hope something better results.
Sanders was a false flag by the Dem Party to present an extremist; thus it would make Hitlery look like a precious gem. Hitlery will be the Dem candidate.